Only Hope
by Bruce and Diana Wayne
Summary: 15 years from now, when the Justice League gets captured, can their children save them without getting themselves into trouble, too...? BMWW HGGL SMLL CASG FLP
1. Acts 1, 2, & 3

**NEW CHARACTERS (children):**  
  
Name: Thomas (Tommy) Wayne  
  
Age: 12  
  
Hair: black  
  
Eye: blue  
  
Parents: Bruce and Diana Wayne  
  
Name: Martha (Mattie) Wayne  
  
Age: 12  
  
Hair: black  
  
Eye: blue  
  
Parents: Bruce and Diana Wayne  
  
Name: Kyle Wayne  
  
Age: 6  
  
Hair: black  
  
Eye: blue  
  
Parents: Bruce and Diana Wayne  
  
Name: Andrea Wayne  
  
Age: 18 months  
  
Hair: black  
  
Eye: blue  
  
Parents: Bruce and Diana Wayne  
  
Name: Ara Stewart  
  
Age: 11  
  
Hair: black  
  
Eye: green  
  
Parents: John and Shayera Stewart  
  
Name: Carrie Stewart  
  
Age: 6  
  
Hair: red  
  
Eye: green  
  
Parents: John and Shayera Stewart  
  
Name: Joseph (Joey) Stewart  
  
Age: 2  
  
Hair: red  
  
Eye: green  
  
Parents: John and Shayera Stewart  
  
Name: Michael Kent  
  
Age: 11  
  
Hair: black  
  
Eye: brown  
  
Parents: Clark and Lois Kent  
  
Name: Lisa West  
  
Age: 10  
  
Hair: red  
  
Eye: green  
  
Parents: Wally and Linda West  
  
Name: Derek Adams  
  
Age: 11  
  
Hair: blonde  
  
Eye: blue  
  
Parents: Nathaniel and Kara Adams  
  
**------  
  
Act I  
  
------**  
  
"Besides, Wonder Woman so has a thing for Superman." 12-year-old Mattie Wayne told her twin brother, Tommy, who nodded in agreement.  
  
Bruce smiled and shook his head as he came into the room. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."  
  
The twins looked up at their father, surprised he would want to talk about the relationships of superheroes.  
  
"What do you mean?" Mattie asked.  
  
"Of course she likes him." Tommy added. "Their costumes even match."  
  
"Whose costumes match?" Diana wondered, coming into the room, carrying her youngest daughter, 18-month-old Andrea, and followed closely by her other son, 6-year-old Kyle.  
  
"Our children seem convinced that Wonder Woman has a crush on Superman," Bruce stated, his voice stern, but his eyes silently laughing.  
  
Diana pressed her lips together so she wouldn't laugh out loud. She shook her head. "I really don't think so."  
  
"Why not, Mom?" Tommy asked.  
  
"Here, turn on the news." She commanded, handing her oldest son the remote. He did and footage of the Justice League saving the day came on. She pointed to Wonder Woman, who was about to get hit. "Watch this."  
  
As they gazed, Batman swung down, scooped her up, and landed across the road.  
  
"Well, that doesn't mean anything." Kyle, who had quickly taken his older brother and sister's side, argued.  
  
"Oh no?" Diana asked. "Watch this part." The League quickly finished off the bad guys. Batman stood next to Wonder Woman, who smiled at him and kissed his cheek.  
  
The kids gasped.  
  
"See?" Bruce said. His pager beeped in his pocket. He took it out and looked at it. "Oh, we gotta go, kids. Mind Alfred." His wife followed him out of the room after handing Andrea to Mattie.  
  
Once they were alone in the hall, Diana started giggling.  
  
"Hmmm... Maybe I should call Lois and tell her my wife is after her husband." Bruce mock-pondered.  
  
She hit him lightly in the chest. "Oh, stop." Then, catching her breath, she added, "I hate lying to the kids like that."  
  
"I do, too, but it's the only way to keep them safe." He replied, opening the clock-passage. "You know that the minute they figure out that their parents are Batman and Wonder Woman they'll want to fight with us."  
  
"Yes." She agreed, reluctantly. "It's for the best."  
  
**------  
  
Act II  
  
------**  
  
"Hey, Alfred." Tommy greeted as he entered the kitchen the next morning. "Are Mom and Dad back yet?"  
  
"No, I'm afraid they haven't returned, Master Thomas." The old butler replied. "Where is Miss Martha this morning?"  
  
"Right here, Alfred!" Mattie announced, running into the kitchen.  
  
"Walk, please." Alfred scolded with a hint of amusement in his voice.  
  
Mattie smiled before looking around. "Where was Mom and Dad's meeting? They're usually back by now..."  
  
"They didn't say." Alfred stated. "I'm sure they'll return soon, though."  
  
"I hope so." She sighed.  
  
Andrea, in the other room, started crying. Alfred started to go after her, but was stopped by the twins.  
  
"We'll get her," Tommy stated.  
  
The old man nodded and started down the hall in the other direction.  
  
"I wonder where he's going..." Mattie said.  
  
-  
  
"Master Bruce?" Alfred called, trying to contact him using the computer in the Batcave.  
  
"Alfred...?" Batman's voice replied, groggily.  
  
"Sir? Are you alright?"  
  
"No." Bruce responded. "We've been captured. I'm sending you our coordinates. Pass them on to any of the retired heroes you can find. Under no circumstances should..." It trailed off into static. Moments later, the coordinates came up on the screen.  
  
Alfred immediately started dialing the numbers he found in the computer files, hoping to find at least one hero still willing to fight the good fight...  
  
**------  
  
Act III  
  
------**  
  
5pm  
  
"I'm getting really worried, Tommy." Mattie stated as soon as she was sure Kyle and Andrea weren't around. "Mom and Dad have never been gone this long without telling us before."  
  
"It'll be okay, Mattie." Her brother replied. "I'm sure, that if anything had happened to them, Alfred would have told us."  
  
"Master Thomas? Miss Martha?" Alfred called, coming into the living room. "Please gather your siblings and meet me in the dining room. There's something rather important I think you should hear."  
  
"What is it?" Mattie wondered, sounding worried.  
  
"I think it would be best if you were all together for this..."  
  
-  
  
"Okay, Alfred. We're here. Now can you please tell us what's going on?" Mattie asked as she, her brothers, and her sister entered the dining room. Looking around, she saw that Ara, Carrie, Joey, Michael, Lisa, and Derek were already there.  
  
"Please be seated." Alfred directed. The children did as he said and he continued. "I'm sure you're all curious as to why you've been called here, so I shall get directly to the point. I know you'll find this difficult to believe at first, but I assure you it's all true. You ten are the children of the Justice League."  
  
There was a moment of shocked silence before Tommy spoke up.  
  
"Wait, wait, wait." He started. "Are you trying to say that our parents are superheroes?"  
  
"That is precisely what I'm saying, Master Thomas." Alfred replied. "You and your siblings are the children of Batman and Wonder Woman. Miss Ara, you, your brother, and sister are the children of the Green Lantern and Hawkgirl. Master Michael, your father is Superman. Miss Lisa, you are the daughter of the Flash. And Master Derek, your parents are Captain Atom and Supergirl."  
  
"Alfred, are you serious?" Mattie asked, suspicious.  
  
"Dead serious, Miss Martha." The old man answered. "They never told any of you because they sought to protect you from the dangerous life they chose to live. Unfortunately, the reason you needed to be told is that they are in danger." There was a collective gasp throughout the room. "The League has been captured and I cannot get a hold of anyone else. I've tried Master Dick several times, but his recorder says he's on vacation until next Monday. That, I'm afraid, would be too late. You children are your parents' only hope."


	2. Acts 4, 5, & 6

**------**

**Act IV**

**------**

"I shall leave you to discuss this amongst yourselves, but please hurry. There isn't much time to waste." Alfred announced, leaving the dining hall.

"Okay, so what are we thinking, guys?" Tommy asked the others.

"Well, I'm thinking we've gotta go save our parents." Mattie announced.

"Wait a minute," Lisa started. "How do we know this isn't just some trick Alfred's playing on us or something? I mean, I'm sure my mom would have told me if something had happened to Dad."

"Alfred would never joke about something like this!" Mattie argued.

"How can you be so sure?" Lisa asked.

"Because I've known him since the day I was born and I'm telling you, he wouldn't do that!" the older girl snapped.

"Let's take a vote," Michael stated, calmly, after a moment of silence. "Everyone who thinks we should save them, raise your hands." Slowly, everyone's (except the two babies) hands went up. "Guess that's settled, then."

A few minutes later, Alfred came back into the room.

"We're going to help." Tommy announced.

"I'm delighted to hear that." The old man replied. "Master Michael, Miss Lisa, your mothers are outside that door. They'd like to have a word with you, I believe."

Michael and Lisa got up and went into the hall way.

"Michael," Lois exclaimed, hugging her son. "Alfred told us what you're going to do and we think that it's the right thing."

"But be careful." Linda said, kissing the top of her daughter's head. "We've both already lost our husbands."

"Ah, don't worry, Mom." Lisa replied, kissing her mom's cheek and heading back into the dining room.

"We'll be fine." Michael said, reassuringly. He hugged his mother back briefly before pulling back. Smiling one last time, he turned around and went back to join the others.

"That's Superman's son, alright." Linda commented, patting Lois on the back gently. "A chip off the old block."

"That's what I'm afraid of..."

-

"First thing's first." Alfred started as the kids quieted down. "I need to explain everything. If you had come into contact with other children for long enough, your parents feared you would figure out that not every child has the amazing strength and powers you posses or that most parents don't get called away on mysterious 'business meetings'. So they took no chances. Your entire lives, you ten have been, for the most part, kept away from other children. You've known each other and that's it."

"What do you mean?" Derek asked. "What can we do that other kids can't?"

"Pretty much anything that Mrs. Kent, Mrs. West, or myself cannot do." Alfred said, smiling. "Super strength, heat vision, flying, atomic blasts, healing quickly, super speed..." He trailed off. Then, glancing at the Stewart children, he added, "...the fact that you three have wings..."

The room filled with the shocked whispers of the kids as they tried to process what the elderly butler was telling them.

"What do you mean by 'super strength'?"

"Most people can't fly?"

"I always thought some people had wings and some didn't. I didn't realize it was weird..."

"This is going to take a little longer than I'd hoped..." Alfred muttered to himself.

**------**

**Act V**

**------**

After gently explaining that they were too young to come (and promising some ice cream), Alfred had sent Kyle, Carrie, Andrea, and Joey into the playroom.

"I've taken the liberty of making you costumes that correspond with your powers." Alfred announced, leading the older six children to through the hall. He stopped in front of an old clock.

"Why did you stop?" Tommy asked.

Smiling, Alfred opened the secret entrance to the Batcave.

"Oh my..." Mattie mutter, her eyes as wide as bowling balls. "How did we never notice that...?"

"Simple." Her butler answered. "You weren't looking for it." He started down the staircase, the kids following behind closely. "This, children, is the Batcave, Batman's base of operations for over 30 years." They stayed silent, in awe. "If you'll come this way, I'll show you to your costumes." He said once they had reached the bottom of the stairs.

They moved into the center of the cave and halted in front of the costume cases. In place of the usual Nightwing, Robin, and Batgirl outfits were six new ones of various colors and shapes.

"The first one is yours, Master Thomas." Alfred announced, gesturing to a black and blue costume with an eye mask (like Batman's body armor with Robin's face mask). "It's in the conventional style of the house." He added fondly.

"The next is yours, Miss Martha." He said, pointing to a looser white outfit with a gold waist band and circlet. "It's based on your mother's traditional Greek robes; adjusted for crime fighting, of course."

"Master Michael, yours is there." Alfred stated, motioning toward a smaller version of what Superman wears except with red gloves and a longer cape. "Yours is, most obviously, based on your father's uniform."

"Master Derek, here is yours." The butler said as he pointed to a red, white, and blue body suit and face mask. The only thing it wouldn't cover would be his mouth and chin area. "Your mother's colors in the style of your father."

"Miss Lisa, you're next." He gestured toward a red uniform with long boots, no legs, and longer sleeves. It had a white lightning bolt diagonally across it and a small white eye mask. "Loosely based on your father's."

"Miss Ara." Alfred said, tapping the glass of the last uniform. It was a full body green suit with yellow sleeves, leggings, belt, boots, and gloves that went up to her neck and a small face mask. It had holes for her wings in the back.

"I guess we should pick names, too, then, huh?" Michael wondered aloud, looking at his costume.

"That sounds like a good idea." Mattie agreed.

"Oh, me first!" Derek said. "Plasma Boy." The other kids giggled.

"Now us," Mattie started after talking to her brother. "Marvel Gal..."

"And Marvel Boy." Tommy finished.

"Falcon." Ara stated.

"Umm... Blaze." Lisa decided.

"And, in the spirit of most Metropolis heroes, I'll be Superboy." Michael added. "The old one is retired, right?"

Alfred nodded. "Now for the hard part..."

**------**

**Act VI**

**------**

"Step through here, children." Alfred commanded, motioning to the molecule transporter located in the corner of the Batcave. They had all changed into their new uniforms and were ready to go.

Reluctantly, the kids did as they were told and were surprised to find themselves in a spaceship orbiting the Earth seconds later. After a moment, the old man followed after.

"Welcome to the Watch Tower." He announced, seeing them looking around in awe.

"We're in the Watch Tower?!" Derek exclaimed. "Neat!"

"Follow me closely. This is a large place. I'd hate for one of you to get lost." Alfred directed.

They obediently followed him until they reached a door where they stopped. He had it opened within moments and they all stepped inside.

"And this," he gestured all around him, "is the training room. We're going to need to get started right away, so I need you to pay close attention." He typed something onto the computer and a long and complicated obstacle course came out. "When you were younger, you were all taught either some form of martial arts or gymnastics. While this seems like a trivial matter to most, it will be the foundation for all of the work we do here in the next day."

"You mean we're going to have to learn all of this in one day?" Derek asked.

"I'm afraid so," Alfred answered. "I know none of you have been in this situation before, but when dealing with super villains, it's best to take the least amount of time as possible." He smiled sadly. "Now, you're all going to have to run this obstacle course-"

"Easy." Lisa commented.

"...in under 30 seconds." He finished.

All six jaws dropped.

"What? That's impossible!" Lisa argued.

Alfred smiled. "Your father can run it in 8." He stated. "Now, Master Michael, would you do the honors of going first?"

Michael gulped. "I guess..."

He went over to the start line and got into a ready position.

Alfred pushed the start button, the light turned green, and Michael took off. He jumped over the hurdles, crawled through the tunnels, ran around the cones, went through the tires, climbed over the wall, swung down the zip line, and finished the course.

"3:36. Not bad." The butler stated. "But not quite up to par. Let's try this again, shall we?" He looked around. "Master Thomas?"

"Okay..." Tommy stepped up and got ready. After the button was pushed, he, too, jumped over the hurdles, crawled through the tunnels, ran around the cones, went through the tires, climbed over the wall, swung down the zip line, and finished the course.

"3:33. About the same." Alfred announced. He looked around at the remaining four. Then, his eyes set on one of them and he smiled. "Miss Martha, you next."

Mattie looked at him skeptically and came up to the start line. She stayed standing and looked out unto the course. Alfred hesitated as he went to push the start button, wanting to see what she would do.

"Wait, Alfred." She requested, never taking her eyes off the obstacles ahead of her. She crossed her arms and squinted her eyes. After a moment, she smiled and nodded. "I'm ready."

The second Alfred started the timer, she took off. Mattie jumped over the hurdles in one leap, flew through the tunnels, ran around the cones, flew through the tires, flew over the wall, swung down the zip line, and finished the course.

"1:48. Very good, Miss Martha." Alfred said, smiling proudly.

"I thought you said we had to run it?" Tommy whined, upset that his sister had figured something out that he hadn't.

"One must analyze a situation carefully before taking action; a lesson learned only from experience, I'm sorry to say." The adult answered. "Miss Martha looked at her position, picked the fasted means of completing the course, and carried her plan out. All of your special abilities are different. If you want to finish it in the set time, you'll all have to figure out the best way to go about it using _your_ powers." He explained. "Now, Master Michael, would you like to try it again...?"


	3. Acts 7, 8, & 9

**------ **

Act VII

------

"Twenty-seven seconds," Alfred announced as Derek completed the course for the eighteenth time.

The six children and the elderly butler had been in the now-eerily-quiet Watch Tower for the past seven hours and they were just now getting to the point they needed to be at. The quickest of them had finished in 22 seconds only 30 minutes ago. Derek had been the last to complete their goal.

"Now can we break for dinner?" Lisa asked. "It takes a lot of energy to run as fast as I do."

"You sound remarkably like your father, Miss." Alfred stated, leading the kids out of the training area. When they had reached the kitchen, the six sat down at the table and he started cooking.

"Hey, Alfred?" Michael called, from his place between Mattie and an empty chair.

"Yes?"

"What are our parents really like?" Superman's son wondered. "I mean, it's like they have these whole other lives that we're not apart of."

"You are as much apart of their lives as heroes as you are apart of their lives as civilians." Alfred stated, smiling to himself as he started chopping vegetables. "They fight to make the world a better place for you."

After a long, quiet moment, Ara spoke up. "Can you still tell us about them? It'd be nice to know how they act from your point of view."

"I'd be honored to, Miss Ara." He replied. "Mrs. Stewart, in my opinion, can be a bit brash and slightly hot-tempered, but she'd do anything for her friends. She's had her share of... disagreements... with the others, but she always came back. The love she shares with the Green Lantern of our quadrant was something neither of them could ever deny for long. Master Stewart, while stern and strict on the outside, actually has quite a jovial streak in him now. I judge that Master West has had something to do with that. He always has been rather good-humored. When he was younger, Master West was extremely impatient, but his time with the League has helped him grow quite a bit."

"My dad? I don't think I've ever heard him crack a joke." Lisa stated, disbelievingly. "Are you sure we're talking about the same guy?"

"Well, I suppose he takes a different role with his family. In the League, he's more of the 'younger brother'." Alfred responded, adding the carrots to his stew. "Which brings me to Mrs. Adams. If Master West is their younger brother, she is most definitely their younger sister. When she first joined the team, she was quite the party animal. She's sarcastic, fun-loving, and adaptable; the complete reverse of Master Adams. Captain Atom has always been stern and set in his ways. Needless to say, we all learned the meaning of 'opposites attract' when they announced their engagement."

"I always thought Supergirl had blonde hair?" Derek asked. "My mom has brown hair."

Alfred smiled. "Mrs. Adams learned how to keep a secret identity from the best." He turned on started adding spices to the almost finished stew. "Master Clark has always felt it necessary to keep his real name a secret to protect his family. He is an overly-caring person. Everything you would want in a man can be found in him. Once, we thought him to be dead and the entire planet went into mourning. It really was rather amazing that one man could have touched so many lives."

Alfred began pouring the food into bowls for the children. He put one in front of each of them before getting one for himself. "Mrs. Wayne, as you may have figured out, is the princess of Themiscyra and comes with all of the characteristics befitting royalty. She is noble, out-going, caring, and has the stubbornness of Batman himself; especially when it comes to dealing with Batman." He smiled fondly. "From the moment I met her I thought she was a good influence on him. Master Bruce has always been rather dark and intimidating. Even now, after so many years of being married with four children, he continues to be his unemotional old self when he's in his uniform."

"Man, it sounds like you're talking about another person altogether, not our dad." Tommy said.

"I assure you, it's your father." Alfred stated, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

"Well, Alfred, when do we go after our parents?" Michael asked after a moment.

"Soon, Master Michael." Alfred replied. "Very soon."

**------ **

Act VIII

------

After they had come back through the transporter, Alfred instructed them to prepare to leave while he readied a plane. Tommy, Michael, and Ara had went to see if they could help him, Derek and Lisa seemed content watching TV, and Mattie went to talk to the younger children.

When she entered the playroom, the newly proclaimed Marvel Gal called the four little kids to her.

"Guys, me and the others are going to have to go soon." Mattie stated.

"Why?" Kyle asked.

"We're going to go save our parents." She replied.

"Why?" Carrie wondered.

"Because all of the other adults are too lazy to help us." The older girl said, sounding very bitter.

"Why?" Kyle asked again.

"I'm not in the mood to play, guys." Mattie said. "I need you four to promise you'll behave while we're gone, okay? This is really important."

"We promise," the older two of the four responded. Andrea and Joey weren't even looking up from their toy town, so no answer could really be expected from them.

Mattie hugged each of them before going back out of the playroom. She lingered a moment at the door, silently watching them play, before disappearing out into the hall. She went over to a wall, leaned against it for a moment, then sunk to the ground, her knees pulled up to her chest.

"Are you okay?" a voice to her left asked.

Looking up and taking a deep breath, she saw that it was Michael.

"Yeah," she replied, wiping her eyes as he sat down next to her.

"You don't have to be so brave, you know." He stated.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Mattie said, getting up and turning away from him.

Michael put his hand on her should after standing up, too. "Okay, if you say so. But if you need someone to talk to, I'm here."

"I know." She said, smiling at him and starting back toward the others. "You coming?"

"Yeah." Michael replied, shaking his head and smiling. He caught up to her easily and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

**------ **

Act IX

------

"Are you all ready to go?" Alfred wondered once all the older children were near the plane.

"Yep." Tommy replied.

"Yes," Alfred corrected.

"There's no time for that, Alfred." Mattie responded.

"There is always time for proper grammar, Miss Martha." The elderly man stated, opening the door to the plane. "The coordinates are set into the auto-pilot."

"You're not coming with us?" Michael wondered.

"I'm afraid I must stay behind and take care of things here." Alfred stated. "You should be fine, but just in case you should come into any trouble..." He held out six small black things. The kids each took one.

"What are these?" Derek asked.

"These are two-way communicators with three functions. Talking one-on-one with each other, making group announcements, and contacting the house. Place them in your ears." The butler instructed. They did as he said. "Now, you'd best be going."

Mattie hugged Alfred and the six of them boarded the plane. The door closed and they waved through the windows before it took off.

"Good luck..." Alfred whispered as the air vehicle flew out of sight.

-

Sorry, this has actually been done for a month, but we forgot to post it here.We posted it on the other site and forgot we hadn't put it here. Oh well. See the website on our bio for an updated list of our stories.


End file.
